Saturday, April 19, 2014

Roku UK Channel Store - Weekly RoundUp #58

Hi, everyone !!

Firstly, I'd like to say "HAPPY EASTER" to Roku owners IN ALL REGIONS of the globe and hope that you all have a great weekend, WHEREVER YOU MAY BE, whether you choose to spend your time streaming media, hunting 'Easter Eggs', or enjoying other pastimes... HAVE FUN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the meantime, those of you who read my "Roku UK Channel Store - Weekly RoundUp #57", will have seen that the UK release of the Roku Streaming Stick (HDMI Version) [Model 3500EU] had been brought forward from the original date of April 21st (published by Media Streaming Market) to the (slightly) earlier date of 18th April 2014 (i.e. Good Friday). Given that this was to be less than a week away from the publication of that last blog post, I was not expecting to be publishing the news, VIA THIS TWEET, that the latest streaming device from Roku had been made available to UK buyers as early as Tuesday 15th April 2014 which the following screenshot confirms:-

HINT: Click on the above image TO ENLARGE IT for easier viewing !!

However... it wasn't until A DAY LATER that the news was OFFICIALLY CONFIRMED by Roku, VIA THIS TWEET, announcing to Roku UK buyers that the Roku Stick is "AVAILABLE NOW!":-

AGAIN... Click on the above image TO ENLARGE IT for easier viewing !!

So, with all of the signs pointing towards the widespread availability of the new Roku Streaming Stick (HDMI Version) [Model 3500EU] for UK purchasers, you would think that we'd start to see some UK reviews appearing online (both video reviews & unboxings, via 'YouTube', as well as written reviews from the various tech sites and UK media outlets / newspapers, right?! Well... where are they then?!!

For some strange reason, I have yet to even come across a packshot for the UK version of the new Roku Streaming Stick (HDMI Version) [Model 3500EU], despite being able to find numerous photos of the packaging for the USA & Canadian models through multiple sources online. This I find very strange, indeed, and it makes me wonder just how "available" the 'Roku Stick' is in the UK?!

If anyone out there has managed to buy a genuine UK version of the Roku HDMI Streaming Stick [Model 3500EU] and has the product in their hands, as of this moment, perhaps you could take a few photographs and post them via social media or (maybe) a 'YouTube' video to prove to the rest of the Roku-buying public in the UK that it does genuinely exist and is available to purchase as of right now because I, for one, am starting to have my doubts about it. Let's not forget, this thing has supposedly been available to "pre-order" for a period of six weeks now. In which case... why should it be that, if I navigate to the Currys / PC World websites, whenever I attempt to "buy" the product (on general release this week) the best that I can do is to pay the money upfront and wait for it to be delivered?! Isn't that what the past SIX WEEK PRE-ORDER PERIOD was for?!! Surely, now that the latest Roku product has had it's "official" release, we should be able to walk into a store (e.g. Currys and/or PC World) and pick one up right off the shelf?! Their website(s) even state that the new Roku Streaming Stick (HDMI Version) [Model 3500EU] is "Available to Order Online & Collect in Store in 1 hour" as evidenced by the following (partial) screenshot of the product page(s):-

Sadly, however, the link shown in the above image reveals that it's not quite as simple as that... because there are two quite different interpretations of "Order Online & Collect" when used in this sense, as the following image demonstrates by revealing the "hidden" meaning of this message for UK purchasers:-

AS BEFORE... Click on the above image TO ENLARGE IT for easier viewing !!

Now, that's all well and good... provided that you can "Reserve & Collect" your new Roku Streaming Stick (HDMI Version) [Model 3500EU] - in which case, you can then turn up at your local PC World and/or Currys store (one hour after you "Order Online" and reserve the product) make your payment and leave with a new Roku Streaming Stick (HDMI Version) [Model 3500EU] in your hands. If, on the other hand, your only option is to "Pay & Collect" because your local store does not have any stock of the product... essentially what you are doing amounts to little more than a "Pre-Order", which is exactly what we've been able to do for the past six weeks already and rather makes a mockery of all the hype surrounding the "actual"(?) release of the new Roku Streaming Stick [Model 3500EU] in the UK!

From my own experience, of typing in various locations throughout the UK, the results are more or less the same no matter where you happen to live. Helpfully(?) the search will give you a list of stores that are closest to the location you entered. The problem is... that, regardless of the town entered, the only option(s) included in the results require you to "Pay & Collect" - meaning there is (currently) NO WAY TO "RESERVE & COLLECT" your new Roku Streaming Stick [Model 3500EU] in 1 hour, as suggested by "Order Online & Collect" details in the above image. Instead, you are likely to be met with a list of your closest stores, that are either "Pay & Collect" or "Out of Stock" as shown here:-

Bearing in mind Roku gave EXCLUSIVE UK PRE-ORDER RIGHTS to only Currys / PC World and Media Streaming Market (who, essentially, handle orders for the "Official" Roku UK website) with all other Roku UK Recommended Retailers listing the product as "Coming Soon" (according to the "Where-To-Buy" information, FOUND HERE, on the Roku UK website) you would think that they ought to have done a better job of getting the new Roku Streaming Stick [Model 3500EU] into UK stores than (currently) appears to be the case. Of course, given the fiasco surrounding the launch and subsequent (much delayed) release of the 'Roku 1' and 'Roku 2' models in the UK, late last year, we should probably have known things had the potential to run far from smoothly this time around. In fact, a well-known phrase about the organisation of certain events in breweries comes to mind here and, if things don't improve on that front, I suggest Roku delegates that task to someone far more capable when it comes to the release of future products! Maybe instead of having the Vice President of Roku Europe (Clive Hudson) write "fluff" pieces for the official Roku blog during the past couple of weeks, AS PER THIS EXAMPLE, he could have been engaged more productively in ensuring that the UK public could actuallybuy the new Roku Streaming Stick (HDMI Version) [Model 3500EU] at the time they were told that it was "available" for them to do so?!!

In other Roku-related news this week it was also announced, VIA THIS THREAD, on the "Official" Roku Forums that 'SuperHD' has now been enabled for the 'Netflix' channel on the Roku Streaming Stick which means that UK purchasers will have another reason to be happy with their new streaming device (once they eventually get their hands on it, of course!). We have C. Shawn Smith (otherwise known as 'RokuShawnS', Community Liaison Person / Forum Moderator) to thank for that little snippet of information. THANKS, SHAWN... KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK !!

Meanwhile... I also passed on details, via the companion Twitter Feed to this blog: @ukrokuchannels, that British Pathé are in the process of making their ENTIRE LIBRARY OF 85,000 VIDEOS, which amounts to 3,500 hours of footage, available online via 'YouTube' so the content can then be enjoyed by a global audience. News of this came to me via an article, FOUND HERE, by 'The Drum' which I'm happy to "bang on" about (ahem!) for the benefit of UK Roku owners that might like to access all those great slices of history via their streaming media player(s). For reference purposes, the "Official" British Pathé Channel on 'YouTube' can be accessed VIA THIS LINK and, let's not forget, that Roku owners without a 'Roku 3' or 'Roku Stick' can always use 'Twonky' and/or 'Plex' to watch 'YouTube' and enjoy the wealth of content from British Pathé, too !!

Finally, for those of you who have been patiently waiting for '4oD' to be added to additional Roku UK models (REMEMBER: it's only on 'Roku LT', 'Roku 2 XS' and 'Roku 3' models, at the moment) there was further confirmation from Roku, during the past week, that the channel is still in the pipeline for the 'Roku 2' and (presumably) the 'Roku 1' player(s) "in the future" as evidenced, IN THIS COMMENT, via a brief exchange between Edward Gould and Roku on Facebook, shown below:-

HINT: Click on the above image TO ENLARGE IT for easier viewing !!

Anyway, let's now press on with the details for the current 'Weekly RoundUp' of NEW ADDITIONS to the "Official" Roku UK Channel Store. This time, there are TWENTY-FIVE NEW CHANNELS which have been added during the past seven days. These latest additions to the "Official" Roku UK Channel Store provided FRESH CONTENT to the Film & TV, Games, News, Weather, Sport, Music, Photos & Video, Special Interest, plus Religion & Spirituality genres.

In keeping with previous installments from the 'Weekly RoundUp' series, details of these new channels have all been listed below, together with links to obtain further information {by clicking on the channel name(s) beneath the respective channel icon(s) as pictured} and to read a 'Roku Guide' review with an independent (slightly more expansive) assessment of each one:-

Anyway, like it or not, thatis your lot for this week and, whilst it doesn't quite the match-up to the twenty-nine channels which made it into the "Official" Roku USA Channel Store during the same time-frame, I always think it's better to have SOME NEW CHOICES than none at all, don't you ?!!

Still, hopefully everyone in the UK with a Roku player managed to find something they like within the twenty-five channels outlined above. If not, then you'll just have to pay us a visit another time when, with any luck, there will be something more to your liking. Afterall, there's no point installing every channel because, as I've said before, when it comes to adding new channels to your Roku player, IT'S YOUR CHOICE and, as with all things Roku... THE CHOICE IS ALWAYS YOURS !!

*********************************************

In the meantime, for my last thirty-six 'Weekly RoundUp' posts, I have been suggesting we spare a thought for all the poor folk who handed over their hard-earned cash for one of those NowTV Boxes [Powered by Sky] which, as you may recall, have (so far) totally failed to live up to their full potential. Likewise, the original promise from NowTV of "more apps being continually added", is yet to be adhered to, since there has been ONLY ONE NEW CHANNEL ADDED to the Roku Channel Store on the NowTV Box SINCE THE PRODUCT LAUNCHED. It goes without saying that, like the rest of us, the employees at 'NowTV' are gearing up for an 'Easter Weekend' getaway... so much so, that even their latest 'Tumbleweed' creation(s) are beginning to resemble 'Easter Eggs', as you can see:-

Apparently, someone asked for "six eggs" but they got a tumbleweed "egg" with a "6" and some "legs"... it's either that, or the 'NowTV' egghunt got "scrambled" and the employees took to hiding themselves, instead of just hiding the eggs. Still, it wouldn't be the first time they got it all wrong !!

Consequently, it's likely to be of no surprise to any of you that (as with EVERY WEEK BAR ONE since launch) there has (once more) been literally NO ACTION in terms of NEW ADDITIONS to the Roku Channel Store selection on the NowTV Box. What this means is that, over the course of the past week, NowTV have (again) produced a (NOT SO) GRAND TOTAL of ZERO NEW CHANNELS to add to their (already SEVERELY REDUCED) version of the Roku Channel Store as included on their NowTV Box. Meanwhile, the "Official" Roku Channel Store that features on all UK Roku players has added a further TWENTY-FIVE EXTRA CHANNELS during that same period of time. To keep things firmly in perspective, in the thirty-eight weeks since the launch of the NowTV Box, there has been a total of FOUR HUNDRED AND SEVENTEEN EXTRA CHANNELS added to the Roku Channel Store on UK Roku players, as compared with ONE EXTRA CHANNEL being added to the Roku Channel Store on the NowTV Box. That, surely, must tell you something ?!!!

Like I've said in previous weeks, it seems to be a case of one step forward and two steps back when it comes to the meagre selection of channels available in the Roku Channel Store which features on the streaming media player from NowTV. To illustrate my point... from the moment that the NowTV Box was launched, they have managed to completely lose 'WatchIndia' and 'USTV Now', with '4oD' being the one & only channel added to the Roku Channel Store on the NowTV Box since it launched !! Last week it was the turn of the 'Flixster' channel to up-sticks and leave it's original home in the "Film & TV" category to hide-out in the "Most Popular" channels, presumably preferring the (relative) obscurity of a twenty-five channel lineup to the company of just seven other channels with which it had shared a genre until then. At least the 'Havoc Television' channel which, upto a couple of months ago (or thereabouts), had been 'AWOL' for a very long time and the 'VEVO' channel (which had been missing an "official" Roku Channel Store category on the NowTV Box for a similar period) have both managed to stay put for the past six weeks, having found their way back into the 'Music' genre (i.e. category) of the Roku Channel Store on the NowTV Box. Likewise... the other channel lacking an "official" Roku Channel Store category on the NowTV Box for quite some time, namely 'HooplaKidz Rhymes', remains part of "Internet TV".

Whilst this means there are still 48 CHANNELS to be found in the NowTV Box version of the Roku Channel Store PLUS the 'NOW TV' and 'Sky Store' channels which (as I said before) keeps the overall total pegged at fifty channels (as there were at launch) let's not forget those last twoareonlythereby default and not included with the apps (i.e. channels) in the Roku Channel Store on the NowTV Box. If we then leave aside the "Most Popular" channels and any additional ones listed in "My Channels" (as I do with my channel count for the Roku player), when it comes to the actual Roku Channel Store categories on the NowTV Box, there remains no more than a paltry 47 channels in total compared with 925+ in the channel store on UK Roku players !!!

Bearing this in mind... whilst the NowTV Box won't exactly leave you out-of-pocket, if you are after a streaming media player which can genuinely boast of "more apps being continually added" and is a lot less likely to leave you wanting by the time the summer holiday period begins, then I strongly advise you to do yourselves a BIG FAVOUR and spend the extra twenty quid or so to get a genuine original Roku LT streaming media player that will allow you to ACCESS NETFLIX plus many other film & tv channels (incl. NowTV) as well as having the 'Plex' channel readily available via the channel store and will give you more than 875 EXTRA CHANNELS TO CHOOSE FROM when compared with the selection (currently) found on a NowTV Box.

*********************************************

Still, whether you happen to own a Roku player, a NowTV Box, OR BOTH, as I do... be sure to come back in seven days' time for my next 'Weekly RoundUp' and, if you can't wait that long, remember you can always keep up with all the UK Roku action (as it happens) throughout the coming week, by following the companion Twitter Feed: @ukrokuchannels where up-to-the-minute info on all things Roku-related (here in the UK) is posted on a daily basis (well, almost).